Originally posted by Stoic Was there any proof that the Molecule Man was not operating at peak
capacity when the Sentry defeated him after realizing that he had access
to the same type of powers? I mean is there a fair reason to say that the
Sentry got lucky there, because it seemed like a legit stomp for Bob from
where I stood. just wanted to get other peoples perspective.
There are three perspectives on that story:
a) There is the perspective of the Sentry haters, who argue, that Molecule Man was vastly depowered and basically a low meta or some nonsense like that.
b) There is the perspective of the one creazed Sentry fanatic, who argues, that Molecule Man was more powerful than during his pre retcon days... which would make Sentry one of the top 5 most powerful beings in the Marvel universe.
c) And then there is my perspective... the most logical and sane perspective on the issue, which I will elaborate later.
Let me debunk a) and b) and argue for my c) perspective:
a) The argument is basically that Molecule Man could only affect one small town and that he actually wanted to die, which is the reason why he was so weak and ultimately lost to the Sentry. Obviously that is a flawed opinion.
Molecule Man affected whatever he wanted. The story made clear, that he only wanted to be left alone in the one town he was in. He didn't affect the entire planet, because he wasn't interested in the entire planet. So any sane person won't even think further about that issue.
The other thing was that he supposedly wanted to lose, because his illusions said so... Funnily enough his illusions said plenty of other things, which didn't happen. But that is completely ignored by that crowd.
Dark Avengers Molecule Man ripped the Sentry apart on a physical and later on on a molecular level. Show me Thanos doing something like that to a +high herald level being. He can't. He isn't powerful enough. Dark Avengers Molecule Man was at the very least a +mid to high trans tier level character.
b) The argument here is, that Molecule Man was able to affect organic molecules... something he was not able to do in the past, because he was not in full control of his powers. So with him affecting organic molecules he had to be more powerful in the past. That however is flawed as well.
Now we all might not like Brian Michael Bendis for ignoring character personalities, powers and continuity... but he was the writer on those stories and what he had written done, became the new canon - like it or not.
And Brian Michael Bendis had put the Molecule Man in the Raft... a prison for low level meta humans. A bio even said that Molecule Man had been captured, while his mental state was manageable.
So that tells us that Molecule Man got less powerful, while he was unstable... He was straight up less powerful. It had nothing to do with organic and inorganic molecules at that point. It was his overall power level, which dropped down. He got captured and imprisoned. And then during the Raft outbreak he got away. The bio also told us that his current power levels weren't known.
And then we saw him in Dark Avengers, where his mental state clearly wasn't the best. He was seeing illusions, at times talking nonsense, being almost paranoid and so on. And with his power level decreasing in the past, it had to be lower as well by default. Simply because his mental state was unstable.
c) And now my argument. My argument is, that Molecule Man was less powerful, since he was mentally unstable. But he was obviously not so weakened, that regular foot soldiers were able to imprison him (something that had happened in the past off panel). He was wrecking everyone around him and Victoria Hand had to surrender. They were chanceless against him.
But the biggest give away should be the fact, that he straight up annihilated the Sentry like Sentry was nothing. The insane amount of power you need to accomplish a task like that in general... is... well, it's insane. The Sentry at his absolute lowest in comics was tanking hits from World War Hulk and asking for more. The Sentry at his absolute lowest is at least a high herald, while I would argue, that he is a low trans character. And Dark Avengers Sentry wasn't as weakened as WWH Sentry. Yet Molecule Man busted him open like a nut. That's insaneee. How many characters can do that to a low trans level character, without going into the skyfather, if not even abstract levels? Not too many.
Dark Avengers Molecule Man wasn't at his best, but he was still plenty powerful. He was a teambuster, who would have eradicated the Avengers at the Justice League at the same time. And they wouldn't have come back from the dead, more powerful and more capable than him. Sentry did.